The
first reported electronic voice phenomena was in June 1959 by Friedrich
Jurgenson. After playing back birdsong in the Swedish countryside, it
is said that he noticed the presence of a faint Norwegian voice talking
about bird song. Jurgenson assumed that this could have been voices from
a radio station, and therefore prompted him to make further recordings.

According to Jurgenson his
further recordings showed that the voices he was recording, were actually
communicating with him and knew him by name and were able to tell him
when the telephone was going to ring.

Since Jurgensons report many
people across the world have experimented with EVP. Equipment such as
tape recorders, mini disc, digital voice recorders and computers can be
used.

Theories

According
to the American Association - Electronic Voice Phenomena (or AA-EVP),
a possible explanation for EVP is contained in the Survival Hypothesis,
which states, "...we are nonphysical entities who are able to exist
in the physical aspect of reality because of our physical body, but that
when our physical body dies, we as Self, change our point of view to nonphysical
reality. In effect, we exist before and after our current lifetime. The
working hypothesis supported by AA-EVP is that these messages are, indeed,
nonphysical in origin and that the Survival Hypothesis is essentially
correct. However, even though the fact of these messages can be demonstrated,
their origin cannot."

An alternative explanation is that the
white noise sometimes used to record EVP provides random sounds that may
be interpreted as voices by people who expect or want to hear voices.
This explanation is consistent with the theory that the entire "phenomenon"
is an example of pareidolia, in which a vague or random stimulus is mistakenly
perceived as recognizable.

Voices are said to be known for being
rapid, faint, and often spoken in grammatically unusual and simplified
language—or even multiple languages during the same sentence. The
interpretation of such recordings is often highly subjective and may differ
from listener to listener; some listeners may hear nothing at all, while
others report hearing specific phrases or sentences.

EVP
Tips

Use an external,
static free microphone.

If using tapes always use brand new,
high quality tapes. Never record over old tapes. There's always a chance
that the overlapping recordings will mix and you'll hear things that shouldn't
be.

Don't bump the microphone and if you do,
make a verbal note of it on the tape. You may also want to note any other
nature sounds such as gusting winds, creaking doors, etc.

Record in 20 to 30 minute sessions. You
can record longer, but keep in mind that you have to listen to the tape
later. If you record two hours of tape then you have to listen to two
hours of tape. That can be very time consuming.

Ask clear and precise questions. Don't
whisper during the recordings.

After each question wait at least 10 to
15 seconds before asking the next question. It won't do much good if you
never let the ghost get a word in edgewise.

Ghost
Connections and EVP

We have been
using digital voice recorders on investigation and have recorded several
unexplained voices. A considerable amount are what we would call in-audiable,
however there have been some recordings that are unmistakeable.

We have included our favorite recordings
on the left and unlike some websites we will not offer our interruptation
of the recordings as we feel that this would be auto suggestive. You are
free to hear what you will.